Boy or Girl? DNA defeats ultrasound
Predicting the baby’s gender
Knowing the gender of the baby is the first thing we think about when we learn we are having a child. Everybody knows that an ultrasound will give us the answer about the gender of the baby sooner or later, but not much earlier than week 20, exactly half way during pregnancy. For most people this is an acceptable option, but many crave for knowing it sooner. This is why so many people appeal to a multitude of “methods” surged from “popular wisdom” like Chinese calendars and other mythologies. In some cases we try to find more scientifically sound reasons and we make deductions, like assuming that sperm cells carrying an Y-chromosome (that will determine male sex) “swim” faster than the X-carrying spermatozoa. The truth is that there is no reasonably proven (or even suspected) relation between the Chinese lunar calendar and the probability of becoming a boy or a girl. The same for many other believings. With more or less scientific base, the reality is that these methods end up guessing the correct sex … about 50% of the times. Of course, a good baby gender test should be more accurate…
Baby DNA in mother’s blood
However, a recent study brought good news for the impatient parents-to-be. The study showed that small amounts of cells of the fetus pass to the maternal blood, carrying along genetic material (DNA) of the baby. By the sixth week of pregnancy it is already possible to detect the unborn’s DNA by means of the PCR technique (see some chapters of C.S.I for more information). Commercially-oriented scientists immediately noticed the economic potential of this discovery. They soon put hands on and developed a method to predict the gender at early stages of gestation by detecting Y-chromosome material from the mother’s blood. In addition, this gender prediction test would be simpler and safer than the partially-invasive Amniocentesis and CVS as accessing to amniotic material such as amniotic fluid or corionic villi is not necessary. Only a few drops of mom’s blood would do the job.
DNA-based baby gender tests
Shortly after, a couple of companies launched at-home baby gender prediction kits. Using these tests, parents can learn the baby’s gender as early as the 6th week after conception. The mother just prickles her fingertip with a lancet and ships a few drops of blood on a sampling card back to the lab. Depending on the type of test, the result is ready about 3 to 5 days later. The manufacturers promise 99% accuracy in predicting the gender of the unborn, and some even offer a money back guarantee if the result turns out to be wrong.
As expected in these cases, this new gadget already raised controversy. Some say that having the possibility to reveal the gender so early will lead to an increase in abortions when the sex of the baby is not the one that the parents wish. As an answer to these claims some manufacturers do not commercialize these tests in China and India, although this delicate topic will for sure deserve a deeper debate.
Source: Gene DNA Test
